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Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman, be known as Chelsea

(CNN) -- "I am Chelsea Manning."
With those words, read from a statement on NBC's "Today" show on Thursday, Bradley Manning immediately shifted public conversation away from the Army private's conviction on espionage charges to gender identity.
"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," Manning said in the statement. "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition."
While his supporters may back Manning, the Army said Thursday it won't.

Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, told "Today" that he'll take action if the Army doesn't provide the hormone therapy Manning has requested.
"I'm hoping Fort Leavenworth would do the right thing and provide that," Coombs said. "If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced to do so."
Pfc. Manning was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years in prison for leaking 750,000 pages of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. A military judge convicted Manning in July, sparing the former intelligence analyst from the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

Hate the comments on the news.. This guy is a hero, let him do what he wants.

(This can be moved later, I just thought it deserved it's own thread for a while)

While I agree this screams of "Ah what the hell, can't get any worse", I still have to say that Bradley Manning getting 35 years (even if he will be out after 7) is ridiculous. There are whistle-blower laws for a reason. Just because its the military and not some bank, they can argue he's a spy? Bullshit.

The US gov apparently doesn't want the public to know when they're breaking their own laws.

Snowden, same thing. Some of the policticians want him kill drone killed for telling the truth about wrong doing. The world is upside down right now.

Agreed man.. People are just turning a blind eye to it, I hate docile people who are ready to accept anything Obama says because he's the president.. Anybody who is against Bradley Manning and Wikileaks and the people who are trying to get this type of information out there is very naive.. It's bringing transparency to government.. Which is how it's supposed to be in a democratic government.. People are supposed to have a say and know what's going on, is there anyone who thinks the people have a say in anything that's happening?

There's constant breaching of the constitution, and no one's even mentioning it.. NSA and the PRISM program is total bs.. When Obama was running for election he said he was against the NSA and would make an effort to limit its powers, but that was a total lie.. He did exactly the opposite and voted to extend its reach and now he's trying to defend the government keeping phone records of everyone and "unintentional" electronic data... The three hop system that goes through a friend of a friend of a friend that's in contact with a suspect extends to something like 263 million or more people Americans when you break it down.. How about mentioning that to the people?

I also hate people who say that if you have nothing to hide then this shouldn't be a problem... Everyone has a right to privacy, and once they take that away, it's not just going to stop there.. What else are they going to control or take away?

Agreed man.. People are just turning a blind eye to it, I hate docile people who are ready to accept anything Obama says because he's the president.. Anybody who is against Bradley Manning and Wikileaks and the people who are trying to get this type of information out there is very naive.. It's bringing transparency to government.. Which is how it's supposed to be in a democratic government.. People are supposed to have a say and know what's going on, is there anyone who thinks the people have a say in anything that's happening?

There's constant breaching of the constitution, and no one's even mentioning it.. NSA and the PRISM program is total bs.. When Obama was running for election he said he was against the NSA and would make an effort to limit its powers, but that was a total lie.. He did exactly the opposite and voted to extend its reach and now he's trying to defend the government keeping phone records of everyone and "unintentional" electronic data... The three hop system that goes through a friend of a friend of a friend that's in contact with a suspect extends to something like 263 million or more people Americans when you break it down.. How about mentioning that to the people?

I also hate people who say that if you have nothing to hide then this shouldn't be a problem... Everyone has a right to privacy, and once they take that away, it's not just going to stop there.. What else are they going to control or take away?

Transparency? Sure. The general public actually having a say in how things are governed when it comes to global relations, security and lots of other shit that the general public have NO idea how to properly deal with? Fuck no.

The general public actually having a say in how things are governed when it comes to global relations, security and lots of other shit that the general public have NO idea how to properly deal with? Fuck no.

And you lost me.

It's not a matter of 'having a say' in anything though. Its a matter of being informed of what the Government is doing, and living in a democratic society, having the ability to choose whether that is how we want our Government to function.

You don't think the general public, who PAYS for the ridiculous military budget, shouldn't have a say in how that money is spent? Whether it's spent sending Drones out to bomb innocent civilians for oil, or actually help innocent civilians in Syria.. For example.

living in a democratic society, having the ability to can choose whether that is how we want our Government to function.

You don't think the general public, who PAYS for the ridiculous military budget, shouldn't have a say in how that money is spent? Whether it's spent sending Drones out to bomb innocent civilians for oil, or actually help innocent civilians in Syria.. For example.

Exactly, that was my point.. Not having people make any of the decisions, but when it comes to the budget and where it's actually being spent, the government should be held accountable for that. If you're going to send aid to foreign countries, like with Egypt and their 1.3 billion dollars of aid a year towards their military, you can't just give them weapons and that be it.. You actually have to help these countries when they use those weapons against their own people.. As well as getting rid of the aid while that's going on, and let's face it, a lot of that budget is totally unnecessary.. It's just because it's employing hundreds of Americans to make these weapons, even though literally hundreds of the tanks they're sending over are going completely unused.

There's a reason that the people of Egypt hate Obama, and if he doesn't step in with some practical help and advice on making the situation better which doesn't require the military and bringing more violence then the aid going to Egypt is totally meaningless since they all hate him there. They're a new democracy (or were supposed to be, Morsi was basically the definition of a dictator), I don't think anyone expected them to run perfectly right away, but there definitely needs to be a buffer between the government and the military so that they work together as a single entity rather than two separate ones.

Hey, as I've mentioned before, I don't know anything about basketball. I do know information politics and even have met many of the people involved. I write a about it here, if you're interested: http://dmytri.info